TTC Settlement Rejected by Union

April 26, 2008

Highlights of Agreement

The Amalgamated Transit Union Local 113 has rejected the negotiated settlement agreed to on April 20. As a result bus, streetcar, subway and Scarborough RT service is cancelled until further notice. Limited Wheel-Trans service will remain in place for customers who must attend medical appointments for chemotherapy, dialysis and other life-threatening illnesses.

The Toronto Transit Commission negotiated a fair agreement with Local 113 that was recommended by its Executive.

What follows are highlights of the negotiated settlement that was rejected this evening. Nowhere in the agreement did the TTC request any concessions from the union.

Term:

three years, expiring March 31, 2011

Wages:

April 1, 2008 - 3%; April 1, 2009 - 3%;April 1, 2010 - 3%

Vision Care:

$300 every 2 years; plus $50 for exams

Dental Care:

major restorative, including implants up to $2,500

Orthodontic:

up to $4,000 (50% TTC coverage)

Physio & Chiro:

$1,000 max ($35 per visit)

Long-term Disability:

$2,550 max, per month

The TTC also agreed to top-up WSIB benefits from the current 93% of take-home pay to 100%. The TTC will provide a top-up to the loss-of-earnings benefit to an employee injured while performing regular duties, the workplace incident is an unforeseen, extraordinary event, and the employee's application for a loss-of-earnings benefit was approved by the WSIB.

The TTC pension, it was agreed, would have been addressed during the operating budget process in 2010 and 2011. Both management and employees would have been bound by any contribution increases that were approved.

The TTC's new buses, much like new automobiles, come with warranties. There has been discussion in the media that the TTC was attempting to contract out repairs to buses under warranty in an attempt to reduce jobs at the TTC. That is not true. The facts are this: the manufacturer is responsible for certain repairs to buses that are under warranty. TTC employees currently do a substantial amount of warranty work that is charged back to the bus manufacturer.

There is an outstanding arbitration, going back to 2002, about the appropriate compensation for Operators/Collectors. As part of the settlement, the parties agreed that if the arbitration results in a wage increase for Operators, the GTA Clause is not triggered. If the union is unsuccessful through arbitration, the GTA Clause guarantees that Operators will receive .05 cents more per hour than the highest paid Operator Group in the GTA at the time of settlement.

The Toronto Transit Commission moves 460 million people every year – about 1.5 million riders every weekday. The TTC is the third largest public transit system in North America servicing some 4.5 million people in the Greater Toronto Area, with a network of subways, streetcars, buses, and a specialized service, Wheel-Trans, for people who require accessible transportation. The TTC is committed to meeting the growing needs of the region with subway and light rail expansion, carrying an additional 175 million riders by 2021.